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Phase 1 of the Aldabra Clean Up Project is done! For the first 3 weeks of the project, the two teams have been tirelessly clearing up beaches and coastline of the atoll. So far, we’ve collected over 20 tonnes of marine debris! Today two teams deployed back to Dune de Messe and Dune Jean Louis for Phase 2 of the project for a further nine days. We also have one team deployed at Malabar for one day. Teams will be continuing to clear areas that were not completed during the previous phase, and will be picking up all the trash collected from our designated collection points, with the help of the coastguard.

Over the next ten days, teams will also be loading all of the collected trash onto a chartered vessel for transportation back to Mahe.

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This weekend was very busy on Aldabra! A team headed out with the coastguard to the remote location of Cinq Cases to retrieve some of the collected trash. They successfully picked up about a tonne of the waste and brought it back to station. Phase 2 has officially begun!

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We’re super excited to be joined on Aldabra by Thomas Moore from Sky News Ocean Rescue, who is currently on the atoll filming for Deep Ocean Live! SIF and the Aldabra Clean Up Project team and will be featured on a special segment tonight on Sky News at 5pm GMT as part of the Ocean Rescue campaign, talking about the project and the work we’re doing to tackle marine debris – tune in tonight to find out more!

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To gain information about the types of trash that are arriving on Aldabra and to enable better processing of the trash when it reaches Mahé, we have been sorting the trash into five categories as we collect it. These include: fishing gear, flip flops, consumer items, PET bottles and remaining fragments.

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A huge thanks from Aldabra to one of our gold sponsors in Seychelles, MCB, for their generous donation towards the @AldabraCleanUp. Without their support, we wouldn’t be here now to clean the atoll from marine debris – thank you! #MCBgroup#MCBseychelles

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We are getting settled in to life in the field. From limited water for showering and washing dishes, to no electricity on camp, it’s taken a little getting used to, but Aldabra has also provided us with some incredible moments so far – including the stunning surroundings, tranquil settings and amazing starry nights! We’ve even made friends with our new neighbours, the tortoises and coconut crabs, who often come to say hello...

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The @aldabracleanup is well underway, and part of the project is scientific research on the different types of waste. In order to properly record the marine debris, all waste is sorted into specific categories and weighed, and transects of 40m are done to get a snapshot and collect median data of the waste at each area to be cleared.

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It has been one week since the Aldabra Clean-Up Project teams arrived at camp and started collecting marine debris in earnest, and the results of the first week are in… the Dune de Mess team was able to collect 5.3 tonnes and the Dune Jean-Louis group collected 4.5 tonnes! That is 9.8 tonnes total! The numbers sound big, but are even more impressive when you consider how light much of the waste is.

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The team at Dune Jean-Louis, and have also had a busy first few days sorting and clearing through the accumulated marine debris from their first location on the atoll. The amount of waste that has built up in the area that they’ll be clearing is shocking.